Page 131 of Owned

Then he spun on his heel, dismissing him with a flick of his wrist.

“Get him out of my sight,” Lucian commanded.

The magical bonds that held the final captive dissipated and the pathetic Sage fell to the stone floor. He let out a strangled grunt as he landed, and then a terrified scream, barely muffled, tore from his lips as he stared into the sightless eyes of the headmaster. He pushed himself back, away from the corpse, and Lucian’s advisor caught him in a snare of his orange magic once more and dragged him, kicking and groaning, from the study.

Silence fell over the room once more, and I shifted under the chill of Lucian’s gaze as it landed back on us.

“You thought you could hide this from me?” he snarled. “How much did you know?”

Bastian’s eyes narrowed, and Valen’s expression hardened. I took a breath and met our father’s stare.

“Nothing,” I said. “We’ve been out doing your bidding all day— How the hell could we have known?”

“Liars!” Lucian’s fist slammed into the desk. “You brought me these two, knowing they couldn’t tell me anything—”

“We brought you the architects of the Black Council’s rebellion,” I shot back. “And you’ve wasted your chance— Elder Ireni is dead. You’ll get nothing out of his corpse!”

Lucian’s lip curled, and as he turned away from us, the crimson glow of his orb pulsed against his back.

“Leave,” he said shortly. “And don’t come back until you’ve found her.”

I spun on my heel and strode toward the open door of the study.

Valen and Bastian followed me without a word.

We moved through the halls of Withermarsh in silence, and I took the stairs two at a time, suddenly desperate to be as far away from our father as possible.

Desperate to understand what was going on.

Desperate to find Avril.

My brothers kept pace, and when we reached the second-floor landing, Valen broke the silence.

“You should have let me explain,” he said, breathless.

“Would it have changed anything?” I snapped.

Valen didn’t answer.

I wrenched open the door to our suite and let it slam against the wall.

Bastian shoved past me into the room.

“I can’t fucking believe this!” he shouted. He turned to me, eyes blazing with anger. “Did you know about this?”

His accusation hit me like a physical blow. “Are you fucking serious? Do you think I had time to plan a kidnapping while I was babysitting your ass?”

“Then how the hell could it happen?”

“Shut up,” Valen said. “Both of you. This isn’t helping, and we’re running out of time.”

Bastian shot him a glare, but Valen didn’t back down.

“Avril was gone when I got back this morning. I thought—”

“You thought what?”

Valen didn’t look away. “It doesn’t matter.”

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